Pope tells U.S. bishops to confront sexual abuse crisis

Pope Francis in a letter released Thursday encouraged U.S. bishops meeting for a weeklong retreat near Chicago to unify as the Roman Catholic Church deals with a “crisis of credibility.” In the eight-page letter addressed to the bishops, Francis said church leaders must reckon with parishioners’ pain, heal divisions, and devise specific approaches that go beyond “creating new committees or improving flow charts.”

Bishops from around the globe will meet next month to forge a comprehensive response to the sexual abuse crisis engulfing the church. A Pennsylvania grand jury in August 2018 released a report detailing the abuse of more than 1,000 child victims by more than 300 “predator priests” going back to the 1940s. Since the grand jury released its report, efforts by U.S. bishops to agree on large-scale reforms have failed.